Setting

Ring Around the Moon takes place at a French country estate in spring. Why spring? Probably because it is when romance is thought to "bloom." The additional setting of a glassed-in rococo winter garden looking out on a "wide expanse of park" contributes to this fertile atmosphere. The home belongs to Madame Desmermortes and is occupied by her nephews, Hugo and Frederic, and her niece, Lady India, all of them attended by the butler, Joshua. All other characters are guests at the chateau.

Dialogue

The dialogue in Ring Around the Moon is entirely social: it contains no soliloquies. Dialogue, as the word indicates, is always directed at someone, most often taking the form of persuasion, coercion, or attack. Recall the dialogue about money between Messerschmann and Isabelle, Hugo's numerous coercions of Romainville, Patrice, and Isabelle, and Diane's toying with Frederic. This is dialogue as manipulation.